In the Penal Colony

In the Penal Colony, novella by Franz Kafka, written in 1914 and published in German as In der Strafkolonie in 1919. An allegorical fantasy about law and punishment, it was also viewed as an existential comment on human torment and on strict devotion to an ambiguous task.

The tale is dispassionately narrated by a traveling anthropologist who visits a penal colony that was formerly led by a sadistic disciplinarian who constructed a torturous apparatus for execution. The purposefulness of the old commander sharply contrasts with the slackness of the new, more humane commander. The death machine is operated by a fanatical officer who in the end demonstrates his devotion to duty by submitting himself to an appalling, clinically described mutilation by the machine during which the machine falls apart.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper, Senior Editor.